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.\" @(#)colrm.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
.\" $FreeBSD$
.\"
.Dd June 23, 2020
.Dt COLRM 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm colrm
.Nd remove columns from a file
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Ar start Op Ar stop
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility removes selected columns from the lines of a file.
A column is defined as a single character in a line.
Input is read from the standard input.
Output is written to the standard output.
.Pp
If only the
.Ar start
column is specified, columns numbered less than the
.Ar start
column will be written.
If both
.Ar start
and
.Ar stop
columns are specified, columns numbered less than the
.Ar start
column
or greater than the
.Ar stop
column will be written.
Column numbering starts with one, not zero.
.Pp
Tab characters increment the column count to the next multiple of eight.
Backspace characters decrement the column count by one.
.Sh ENVIRONMENT
The
.Ev LANG , LC_ALL
and
.Ev LC_CTYPE
environment variables affect the execution of
.Nm
as described in
.Xr environ 7 .
.Sh EXIT STATUS
.Ex -std
.Sh EXAMPLES
Show columns below 3 (c) and above 5 (e):
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ echo -e "abcdefgh\en12345678" | colrm 3 5
abfgh
12678
.Ed
.Pp
Specifying a start column bigger than the number of columns in the file is
allowed and shows all the columns:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ echo "abcdefgh" | colrm 100
abcdefgh
.Ed
.Pp
Using 1 as start column will show nothing:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ echo "abcdefgh" | colrm 1
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr awk 1 ,
.Xr column 1 ,
.Xr cut 1 ,
.Xr paste 1
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
utility first appeared in
.Bx 1 .
.Sh AUTHORS
.An Jeff Schriebman
wrote the original version of
.Nm
in November 1974.
